


You Will Get Along Beautiful in America

by Brotherwife (AnamaryArmygram)



Category: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Casual Racism, Casual misogyny, Cussing, English Lessons, Foreshadowing, Gen, Implied Slur, Period Typical Attitudes, italian restaurant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 00:42:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20200891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnamaryArmygram/pseuds/Brotherwife
Summary: Set during the Italian sojourn. Francescareallylikes a certain English-language vulgarism, and Rick (of all people) thinks it's a little too much.





	You Will Get Along Beautiful in America

In a cozy back corner of a little bistro the three of them had never been to before, Francesca twirled up a forkful of noodles and scowled darkly. “I order _bucatini_, she send me _spaghetti_. Twice! This waitress, she is a motherfucker.” 

Rick sighed. “L-listen, _cara mia_. I, uh, I been meaning to talk to you.” 

Francesca parked her fork in the spaghetti and leaned her elbows on the table. “Talk to me? Talk, then.” 

Rick sighed again. “You have, um, got to stop calling everything a motherfucker. That’s – that’s very strong language and in America that just w-won’t fly.” 

Francesca knit her brows, just a little. “You two, you say fucker, motherfucker all the time and you fly in America just dandy.” 

Cliff, who was sitting to Rick’s left, said, “‘Dandy’?” 

“One thing at a time,” Rick muttered to him. Turning back to Francesca, he went on, “I do not say motherfucker all the time. I say fucker, maybe. Cliff is the one who says motherfucker all the time. I think he got it from n—” He cut himself off. _That_ was a word that would get her in twice as much trouble as ‘motherfucker’ stateside. He sucked his teeth for a second and finally finished: “From _negri_.” 

“Actually,” Cliff said, “I learned it during the war.” 

Rick looked at him with a hint of genuine interest. “And j-just who did you learn it from, during the war?” 

Cliff shrugged a little. “Fuck if I know.” 

Rick pondered that for a second, then dropped his hand on the table just hard enough to bring the attention back to himself. “The point is, you do _not_ call a waitress a motherfucker. You can, you can call her a bitch. Or if you’re really mad, then, then don’t tip her. But only if you _are_ really mad.” 

“Listen to Emily Post here,” Cliff said to Francesca. “He knows what he’s talking about.” 

Francesca kept her eyes on Rick. “When _do_ I say motherfucker, then?” 

“Not to a waitress,” Rick said. “Th-that’s for damn sure.” 

“Okay, I don’t say it to a waitress. When can I say it? It’s a good word and I like it. I gotta say it some time.” 

Rick reached across the table and took her hands between his. “Somebody breaks into your house, attacks you, tries to kill you, does you real harm – you, you, you can call _that_ person a motherfucker to your heart’s content.” 

“Then I never get to say it.” 

“That’s the big idea.” 

Francesca took her hands back. “_Voglio più vino_,” she said. “Where is that bitch of a waitress?” 

Rick looked a little pained, then, but Cliff had to smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Francesca's m-f bomb during the climax of the movie. Obviously it's part of her vocabulary, so I wanted to dial back in the timeline and have some fun with the guys' reactions to that.
> 
> For what it's worth, until a few decades ago a lot of white people thought of it as a word exclusively used by African-Americans. [That wasn't actually true](https://slate.com/culture/2013/02/motherfucker-etymology-and-origins-how-it-became-badass-to-be-a-mofo.html), at least not in any uncomplicated way, but it was a perception that existed. Hence Rick's unenlightened comments.
> 
> [Title is from _Casablanca_.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/quotes/qt0429923)


End file.
